


Hanukkah Grinch

by BookWorm77071



Category: A Court of Thorns and Roses Series - Sarah J. Maas
Genre: ACOTAR AU Week, F/M, Nessian - Freeform, and nesta is forced to go, anyway here's jewish nesta archeron, i can't wait to share that, if you're wondering where my meta post on jewish themes in acotar is, in which feyre and elain throw a hanukkah party, it's coming along
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-11
Updated: 2019-12-11
Packaged: 2021-02-18 13:08:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21761368
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BookWorm77071/pseuds/BookWorm77071
Summary: Nesta's sisters are throwing a mandatory Hanukkah party, and she is dutifully (if begrudgingly) on her way when her car breaks down. Her sisters know Nesta can't be an in enclosed space with strangers, so an Uber or the subway is out of the question, so Feyre sends her friend Cassian to pick her up.Nesta may be a grinch, but at least she's not an imp.
Relationships: Nesta Archeron/Cassian
Comments: 8
Kudos: 51
Collections: ACOTAR AU Week





	Hanukkah Grinch

**Author's Note:**

> Hello hello hello! This is not chapter nine of Like Pristine Glass, I know, but that should be coming later this week! In the meantime, here's my submission for day three of the ACOTAR AU Week, which you can check out and read lots of other new AU fics!  
> Who would I be if I didn't write a Jewish Nesta????????

It is just her luck, Nesta thinks bitterly to herself, that the year Hanukkah falls neatly into the two-week Christmas break her firm has is also the year her sisters decide to gang up on her and host an extended family candlelighting night  _ and _ the year her shitty 1973 Toyota finally decides to die.

On the side of some street in Brooklyn she’s never been to before. Of course.

It will be the very coldest day in New York City before Nesta Archeron takes the subway. She  _ won’t _ . So instead she texts Feyre and Elain her situation and starts to look up the number for AAA before Feyre calls.

“Relax, I’ll get an Uber just as soon as AAA gets here,” she says in lieu of a greeting.

“No, no, you don’t have to!” Feyre says, voice loud over the chatter of their family at her and Elain’s shared apartment in Brooklyn. “I have a friend driving and he can pick you up!”

“I thought this was a family thing?”

“It’s a family and friends thing. It’s a togetherness holiday.”

“It is  _ not _ .”

Nesta can hear Feyre smile. She groans inwardly, bracing herself for her least favorite joke of the season.

“Don’t be such a grinch, Nesta.”

“Don’t be such a grinch, Nesta!” Elain shouts in the background. She can hear laughter ringing, too.

“Who is this friend? When’s he going to be here?”

“I’ll text you his number. Send him your location. His name’s Cassian. He’s Rhys’ friend.”

Rhys, Feyre’s boyfriend of a few months whom Nesta has not yet met. “He has a car?” She sounds doubtful. She knows why she keeps a car in the city, but she still thinks it’s odd when she hears of other people who do. Especially men.

“Yes, and it’s a good one,” she teases. “Anyway. See you soon!” And she hangs up, before Nesta has a chance to shoot back at her for berating her car.

So instead Nesta texts the number Feyre has sent her her location, with a  _ Hey, it’s Nesta, Feyre’s sister  _ and calls AAA, who inform her that they will be there in about half an hour.

Nesta doesn’t want to wander around the street--she’s never been here before and it’s bitterly cold outside--so she sits in her broken-down car, drumming her fingers on the steering wheel, and waits for Feyre’s friend to text her back.

He doesn’t. Instead, he calls.

“Nesta?” he says, as soon as she answers. “It’s Cassian. Feyre’s friend. I’m right behind you.”

Nesta looks up and sees a car that has pulled up behind her in her rearview. “Hi,” she says.

“Hi,” he says. “Stay in your car. I’ll come out.” And he hangs up.

She is slightly miffed at being repeatedly hung up on, but she unlocks the car anyway to let Cassian in.

“Woah,” he says as he slides in her passenger side. “This is old. I didn’t believe Feyre. Hi,” he says, turning to face her with a crooked grin. He stretches out his arm. “I’m Cassian.”

“Nesta,” she says, decidedly less excited than he is. She takes his hand gingerly and she’s very grateful he doesn’t squeeze too hard and lets her go after a few seconds.

“So, how long have you had this piece of crap?” he asks cheerfully.

“It is not a piece of crap,” she snaps. It is, but she hates when anyone else says so.

“Right, except for breaking down,” he says, grinning wider.

Nesta’s mood sours even more. “It’s just the cold,” she says. And it’s not, but she doesn’t care. She loves this car.

He laughs. “Sure. So how long have you had it?”

“Three years,” she says.

“What year is it?”

“Seventy-three.”

He whistles low. “Well...I guess it lived a good life.”

“It’s not dead,” she says. “They’re going to fix it.”

He shrugs, the smile never leaving his face. “All right, then.”

Nesta looks at her window, drumming her fingers on the wheel again. AAA should be here soon, only seven minutes or so.

“So, how will you be getting back home? You live in Manhattan, right? Feyre said you never take the subway....”

“I don’t. Uber. Until this is fixed.”

His lips quirk upwards. “Well, I can drive you home.”

Nesta bites her lip. She has at least another twenty minutes with this man in a car, and then a few hours when she has to be under the same roof as him, and she’s already snapped at him once. “No thank you,”she says through gritted teeth.

Now his smile fades. “I just meant...I never like Ubers, and you wouldn’t have to pay me, so...” he trails off.

“Oh, they’re here,” she says, gesturing to the tow truck that has appeared in the rearview mirror. She leaps out of the car and rushes over to them and she can hear Cassian behind her following.

“Good evening,” she says to the man getting out of the car.

“Hi,” he says. “Which car is it?”

Nesta shows him her car and launches into an explanation of what happened. The man tells her where her car will be taken to and that they’ll contact her if she’ll be able to pick it up.

“What do you mean,  _ if _ ?”

He looks the car over doubtfully. “It’s...kind of standing on its last legs.”

“You haven’t even looked at it yet!”

“I mean, I’m seeing it in front of me....”

Nesta bites back what she wants to say. “You have my information?”

“Yeah, the company already has it.”

“Excellent. Good evening.” She turns on her heel and stomps to Cassian’s passenger side.

“Listen,” he says, sliding in next to her. “About earlier. I really didn’t mean...any harm. Just, like. If you want a ride. You’re my friend’s sister,” he adds.

“Yes, I know,” she says, snapping at him again. Then she stops herself and looks out the window. Now she feels too awkward; she shouldn’t have snapped at him but she doesn’t want to apologize, so she just presses herself into the back of her seat.

She hates this. Being locked away with people she doesn’t know well. She can barely stand being alone with people she loves, so this is a nightmare.

He notices. “Hey,” he says, looking over at her, real concern in his voice. “Are you okay?”

“Yes,” she says, pushing harder against the chair.

“You want me to pull over?”

“No. Thank you.”

He’s quiet for a moment. Then he says, “Are you sick?”

_ Of you,  _ she thinks immediately, but bites her tongue. “No.” She’s firm enough that he’s quiet again.

“If you’re sure,” he finally says.

They’re quiet for about another minute. Then he says, “So, how come you don’t live with Feyre and Elain?”

Nesta opens her mouth to say  _ None of your business,  _ but for Feyre’s sake, she grits her teeth and says tightly, “I need my space.”

“Oh,” he says. He laughs, for the second time, and Nesta notes how his deep voice sounds a bit higher pitched when he does. “So am I infringing on your alone time in your car?” He laughs again, and Nesta thinks he’s mocking her, but then he winks.

“So, you’re a lawyer, right?”

So much for respecting her alone time. “Yes.”

“Criminal law, Feyre said?”

“Yes.”

“She said you’ve put a lot of bad people away.”

Well. She has.

“Don’t like to discuss work on the holidays?”

“It’s not _the_ _holidays_ ,” Nesta says. “The only major holiday in December is Christmas.”

“It’s also Hanukkah,” he says.

Nesta rolls her eyes. “I know that,” she says. “But Hanukkah’s not a major holiday. It’s not even a holiday. It’s a festival.”

“Oh,” he says, looking over at her, surprised. “I didn’t realize there was a difference.”

“Well, there is.”

“What is it?”

“It’s,” Nesta says, and she struggles to find the right words in English. Not that she’s fluent in modern Hebrew, but discussing Jewish culture is normally something she’d do while throwing at least a bit of Yiddish around. “It’s mostly the prohibitions on work.”

“Oh. So you _ can  _ discuss work on Hanukkah.”

Nesta rolls her eyes again and he laughs. “I’m kidding. So if Hanukkah’s not a big deal, why are your sisters throwing a party?”

“It’s not that it’s not a big deal. It’s just...not on par with Christmas in Christianity. We have holidays that justify month long vacations. This isn’t one of them. And anyway...it’s...fun.” She grimaces as she finishes.

He laughs at her again. “You seem very into fun.”

“It’s assimilation,” she grumbles. “There are Jewish ways to have fun.”

“I’m sure there are,” he says.

She turns to look at him. “What are  _ you _ , anyway?” she asks. “Protestant?”

He glances sideways at her. “Why do you say that?”

“I don’t know. Aren’t most Americans Protestant?”

“About half, yeah.”

“Well. There you go. You’re not Jewish. Obviously.”

He laughs again and she’s not sure why. “You know, some might say that’s a bit rude.”

“Don’t be an idiot,” she says, snapping for what feels like the tenth time. “We’re going to my sisters’ Hanukkah party. I’m at perfect liberty to ask you your religion.”

He gives her another crooked grin. It’s lopsided and lazy and easy and she doesn’t like it. “Good point,” he says. “And I don’t know.”

“What don’t you know?”

“What religion I am,” he says. “I don’t really have one. I didn’t grow up with my parents. Rhys’ mom took me in. And she was just...festive. We had non-holiday holiday parties every few months.”

“Wait. You’re Feyre’s boyfriend’s brother?”

He shrugs. “Yeah. We’re here.”

He turns off the car and gets out, shutting the door behind him. She scrambles with her seatbelt and opens the heavy door, and he’s already on her side to offer her a hand down.

She blinks when she sees him. “How is he?”

“Who?”

“Feyre’s boyfriend.” She knows he can hear how impatient she is, but she wonders if he can detect her concern, her worry.

She thinks he can because his eyes soften a bit. “He’s a good person.”

She puts her hand in his. His skin is warm even through their gloves.

“Non-holiday holiday party?” she asks as they walk up to the door of the apartment building.

He laughs--he laughs  _ so _ much, it’s ridiculous. “Yeah. Solstice times, equinox times.”

_ Equinox  _ times? Who celebrates the equinox? What are they, Pagan?

He opens the door for her when they reach it.

“So,” he says. “I’ve never been to a Hanukkah party before. What can I expect?”

“What do you know about Hanukkah?”

“Oh, lots,” he says, following her into the elevator. “For starters, it’s widely misrepresented as a major Jewish holiday, when it’s actually a minor festival.” He shoots her a grin.

She rolls her eyes, but it’s more to hide her own slight smile than out of real disdain.

“And I know about the candles. And Feyre mentioned the foods.”

“There’s a story behind it,” she says. “But yes, here we’ll be lighting candles and eating fried foods. There are games. It’s...”

“Assimilated fun,” he says, winking.

She doesn’t do a very good job at hiding her short laugh. “Right.”

The elevator dings with Elain and Feyre’s floor, and Nesta doesn’t bother knocking at their entrance and just lets them both in.

The party’s already started. A gaggle of Elain’s friend Nesta vaguely recognizes, some of Feyre’s art schoolmates, some cousins (Nesta knows her father is here somewhere, as well), and four people she assumes are Feyre’s new...friends.

“Nesta!”

Nesta turns to the sound of her name automatically and is knocked backwards a few feet with the force of Elain’s hug.

“Hi, Elain,” she says, slightly muffled, trying to unhook herself.

“I’m so glad you made it! Are you okay! Is your car okay? Was the ride okay?” Elain’s eyes move over indiscreetly to Cassian, who is talking towards a blond woman Nesta does not know.

Nesta can feel a slight flush redden her cheeks. “It was fine.” Her sister’s sweet to care, but it was fine.

“I can take an Uber back with you.”

Cassian, more discreetly than Elain but not slick enough that Nesta doesn’t notice, cocks his head towards them.

“I...don’t know if I’ll take you up on that,” she says. She hates that she can’t be alone with strangers and she hates to ask it of her sister, but she might not need to. The ride with Cassian was...fine. And she trusts Feyre.

“Hey!” cries the sister in question, coming into the room. She stretches the syllable out. “Hey, Nesta, you made it! Hey, Cass.” She stops to give him a quick hug and then walks over to Nesta and squeezes her tightly. “Was the ride okay?” she says, lowering her voice.

She hates this.  _ Hates _ it. “It was fine. Have you started cooking yet?”

“Oh. Yes! We have food and...Hanukkah drinks! Martinis!”

Nesta stops. “ _ That’s  _ the brilliant Hanukkah cocktail you came up with? Martinis?”

“They have olives in them,” Feyre says, defensive. “And we were supposed to have this  _ gelt  _ cocktail, but  _ someone _ forgot to buy Goldschläger.”

“I thought you said you picked it up!”

“I have texts, Elain...”

Nesta relaxes a bit while listening to her sisters bicker. She’s missed them. She likes being around them. In small doses, maybe, but she does wish they had more frequent meetings.

“We should light soon,” she says to them, after listening to them chatter on about the lives for ten minutes or so.

“Daddy’s not here yet,” Elain says.

“And you haven’t met Rhys! Come, come.” Feyre grabs her right hand--her left is holding her oh-so-festive martini--and drags her back into the front room, where Cassian is sitting with the people she didn’t know from earlier.

“Everyone,” she announces, “this is my big sister Nesta. Nesta, this is Az and Mor and Amren and Rhys.” She looks back at Nesta, beaming.

Her heart cracks a little--she looks so proud, so happy, shining like the unlit  _ chanukiyot _ are already blazing inside her--so she smiles and nods even though it feels so unnatural for her. “It’s nice to meet you,” she says.

Her eyes linger on Rhys.

She immediately doesn’t like him. He’s too tall. He has too many tattoos. He wears nice clothes but she doesn't trust how expensive they look.

She doesn’t know what Feyre has said about her, but she can tell Rhys doesn’t like her either, from the way he looks at her.

Whatever. She doesn’t need him to like her. She’s the sister, the constant. He’s the one who needs to prove himself to her. That’s just how it goes.

_ You’re off to a rough start _ , she thinks bitterly at him, and brings her martini to her lips.

“Did you all know,” Cassian says, throwing an arm back around the chair next to him. “That Hanukkah’s not actually a holiday?”

The one Feyre called Az turns to face him, but the small woman, Amren, scoffs and says, “That’s not exactly classified information, dimwit. It’s been a festival for two thousand years.”

Nesta likes her right away. She sits down at the table.

“Criminal law, right?” Amren says to her.

Nesta nods.

“Don’t ask her about work,” Cassian interjects. “She’s on vacation.”

“Private firm or for the DA or what?” Amren says, ignoring him.

But she doesn’t mind her questions so much, and she answers them. Amren tells her she works for Rhys--they all do, which she doesn’t like. It feels too much like a cult to her and she doesn’t want Feyre mixed up in that.

She hisses so to Elain, under her breath, and she laughs at her. “You’re being ridiculous,” she whispers. “They’re nice!”

“You think everyone’s nice.”

“It’s not a cult, it’s just having friends. You know? Friends?”

“Oh, hush. It’s time to light.”

“Daddy’s not here yet. We’re waiting for him.”

“Where is he?” Nesta leans back and crosses her arms. “Have you heard from him, Feyre?”

“Oh,” Feyre says, turning around and looking at the clock across from her. “Ten minutes, I think.”

“Why do you need to light the candles now?” Cassian asks her.

“We’re supposed to do it before eleven,” she replies.

“Hmm,” he says. Then he hesitates. He says to her, lowering his voice so only she can hear, “You...want me to drive you home after?”

Nesta bites her lower lip. She brings her glass to her mouth and takes a sip.

“Yes,” she says.

“Okay,” he says. He hesitates again. Then he reaches into his jacket and takes out something--a business card. “I...know you can’t take the subway or rides with people you don’t know,” he says, and Nesta can feel her throat grow tighter but he doesn’t take his eyes off her face. “I’m head of Rhys’ security. I can make sure you can get around safely. I can do it myself. If you ever need.”

Nesta takes the card from him and it’s so  _ weird _ , because sometimes he’s teasing and sometimes he’s sincere and she doesn’t like when people are a mix of things. It makes everything harder.

But she appreciates it. A lot. So she nods slightly and slips the card into her own pocket.

“And you know,” he continues. “I can probably...help out. In that area.”

Nesta blinks. “What area?”

“You know. The...unsafe...area. With...whatever it is...whoever it was....” he trails off, but still, his eyes do not stray from hers.

Nesta blinks again. Is he...offering...to kill Tomas?

No. Because that would be insane.

So she just says, “Right.”

He nods and she doesn’t like the way he’s looking at her, like he’s studying her. But then he smiles and says, “So, are you going to come to our non-holiday holiday party next week?”

Nesta scoffs. “No.”

“Why not?”

Nesta rolls her eyes. “Because it’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard of.”

“I came to your Hanukkah party.”

“It’s not  _ mine _ , and I didn’t invite you.”

“Well, I’m inviting you.”

Nesta grimaces. “One holiday party is enough for the season.”

“All right,” he says. “What about dinner?”

She raises an eyebrow. “Dinner?”

“Dinner,” he says, grinning. “You must like me enough for another car ride. You’re talking to me and none of your cousins. You like food. Dinner with me is a fantastic combination.”

Perhaps it’s the second martini. Or her sisters’ assimilated holiday cheer rubbing off on her. But she shrugs and says, “Maybe,” which, for her, is a ringing endorsement.

Cassian knows it, too, because he leans back and grins wider. 

“All right, who’s up for some more latkes?” Elain says, coming in holding a platter.

“Now, really, Elain, you two said ten more minutes. Where is he?”

“Okay, you know what? I didn’t want to ruin the surprise, but since someone’s being such a grinch...he’s actually picking up the Goldschläger.”

“You’re such a grinch, Nesta!” Feyre says, cheering.

“You’re such a grinch, Nesta,” Cassian says, laughing along.

Nesta rubs the back of her neck. The one good thing about a non-holiday holiday party, she supposes, is that there can be no grinch.

Perhaps it’s not so ridiculous after all.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed that! It was fun to write! Please let me know if you did:)  
> Come chat with me about Nesta on my tumblr @ladynestaarcheron


End file.
